Disposable hanger retainer for display racks

ABSTRACT

An inexpensive and disposable locking strip for use in temporarily retaining hanger clips (and the garments or other articles they support) in place on a rack as that rack is moved about during shipment and in preparation for commercial display of the goods. The strip is sufficiently flexible and deformable so that it may be urged laterally beneath the hooks of a plurality of hangers suspended in parallel relation from the horizontal rod of a display rack. Unhooking of the hangers, either accidentally or intentionally, is thereby restrained until such time as the strip is longitudinally extracted.

22 1 Filed:

baited States Patent 1191 Schuessler 1 DISPOSABLE HANGER RETAINER FORDISPLAY RACKS [76'] Inventor: Richard D. Schuessler, 564 Meadow Rd.,Winnetka, 111. 60093 Apr. 26, 1973 211 Appl. No.: 354,856

211/123, 124, 162; 206/7 R, 7 A, 7 D, 46 AP,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,563,660 12/1925 Rubin211/4 X 1,626,381 4/1927 Batts 206/7 A 2,643,775 6/1953 Franklin 211/123X 2,693,303 11/1954 McGhie 223/85 2,710,484 6/1955 McGinnis.... 211/124X 3,040,881 6/1962 McNeill 248/D1G. 2 UX 3,191,770 6/1965 Zuckerman223/85 X 3,373,878 3/1968 Daitch 223/85 1451 Dec. 17,1974

3,528,590 9/1970 Nathanson 223/85 3,567,034 3/1971 Mozelsio 211/7FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 306,333 4/1955 Switzerland 248/339Primary ExaminerRoy D. Frazier Assistant Examiner-Thomas J. HolkoAttorney, Agent, or FirmDawson, Tilton, Fallon & Lungmus [57] ABSTRACTAn inexpensive and disposable locking strip for use in temporarilyretaining hanger clips (and the garments or other articles they support)in place on a rack as that rack is moved about during shipment and inpreparation for commercial display of the goods. The strip issufficiently flexible and deformable so that it may be urged laterallybeneath the hooks of a plurality of hangers suspended in parallelrelation from the horizontal rod of a display rack. Unhooking of thehangers, either accidentally or intentionally, is thereby restraineduntil such time as the strip is longitudinally extracted.

16 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND The display racks for garmentsand other articles now in common use are ordinarily shipped to theretailer in unloaded condition and the retailer must then hook thehangers and the goods which they support upon the horizontal arms orrods of the racks. Pre-mounting of the hangers (and the articles whichthey support) upon such a rack by the manufacturer or distributor hasnot been considered feasible because such hangers are easily unhookedand would undoubtedly become detached during shipment and handlingunless some elaborate means, such as the extensive use of packingmaterials along the baffles, spacers, and the like, were used to holdthe hooks in place. To avoid such difficulties and still permitpre-mounting of the hangers, it has been contemplated that such hangersmight be formed with eyelets in lieu of hooks; however, the provision ofan eyelet would not only prevent such a hanger from releasing duringshipment but would also prevent it from being removed from the rack by aperspective customer unless all other hangers closerto the end of thesupport rod were first withdrawn. Therefore, while the eyelet approachhas been used in those instances where each arm of a rack is used onlyto support goods of identical size and appearance, it has not beenconsid ered suitable where even minor differences might be found betweenthe goods suspended from the same arm or support rod.

SUMMARY An important aspect of this invention lies in the discovery thatthe aforementioned problems may be easily and inexpensively solved byutilizing a strip of cardboard or other flexible material to lock thehook portions of a plurality of hangers against unintentional releasefrom the support rod of a display rack. When unlocking of the hangers isdesired, the strip is simply extracted by pulling it in a longitudinaldirection, using a handle portion exposed for that purpose.

More specifically, the flexible strip extends through the spaces beneaththe hook portions of all of the hangerscarried by a single support rod.The upper longitudinal edge of the strip engages the undersides of thehook portions, and preferably engages the rod, while the lowerlongitudinal edge of the strip bears against the body portions of thehangers. Since the free end of each hook portion is spaced closer to thebody portion of the hanger than the maximum vertical dimension of thespace between the hook and body portions, the locking strip is anchoredagainst lateral displacement and in turn prevents each of the hangersfrom becoming unhooked. Finally, after the pre-loaded rack has reachedits destination and is fully set up for display of the goods, theretailer simply pulls the locking strips longitudinally from the rackand discards them, leaving the hangers (and the goods supported thereby)free for individual detachment from the rack.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the speciflcation proceeds.

DRAWINGS The locking strip for temporarily preventing detachment of thehangers is illustrated partially in broken lines in order to illustratethe relationship of the parts more clearly.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational view of a hanger I mounted upon thesupport rod of a rack with the locking strip fully in place.

FIG. 3 is an elevational view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the lockingstrip in the process of being inserted into place.

DESCRIPTION In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. I, the numeral 10generally designates the horizontal wire support arm or rod of aconventional display rack. Ordinarily the rod would be secured to astandard which in turn would be equipped with a base or with other meansfor supporting the rack upon a floor or table surface. Since suchelements are conventional and well known, further description isbelieved unnecessary herein.

The horizontal rod 10 has an up-turned free end portion 11 forpreventing. hangers 12 from sliding off the end of the rod. In theillustration given, each hanger 12 takes the form of a plastic cliphaving a body portion 13 and a hook portion 14. The body portionincludes a pair of integrally formed depending jaws 13a which may beurged together for the purpose of holding an article 15 such as, forexample, a cap or scarf, in the suspended condition illustrated. A latchmember or snap fastener 16, formed integrally with one of the jaws 13a,engages the other of the jaws to maintain the two jaws in clampingcondition until member 16 is depressed and the spring jaws are permittedto expand.

Hook portion 14 is also formed integrally with one of the hinged jaws13a and, in the illustration given, has an upstanding portion 14a, atransverse portion 14b, and a depending terminal portion 140. Portion 14therefore defines a hook for suspending the hanger, and the article 15clamped thereby, from the horizontal support rod 10. It is to beunderstood that a plurality of such hangers are intended to be supportedfrom rod 10. Only two such hangers are shown for purposes ofillustration; however, a greater number would ordinarily be used inconjunction with any given support rod 10.

A characteristic of the hanger 12 is that body portion 13 is providedwith an upwardly facing recess 17 directly beneath the arch of hookportion 14. It is to be understood that the hanger 12 shown in thedrawings is of conventional construction and might be variedconsiderably depending on the nature of the articles to be supported. Itis, however, particularly desirable that the body portion of the hangerbe provided with the recess 17 illustrated, for reasons which willbecome apparent as the specification proceeds. Since the hanger as shownis already known in the art and is only included in this invention as acombining element, further description is believed unnecessary herein.

The locking strip is designated generally by the numeral l8 and may beformed from any suitable flexible and resilient material such ascardboard or flexible plastics. Polypropylene or polyethylene have beenfound effective, but other plastics having similar properties might alsobe used. It will be observed thatthe strip is provided with an elongatedintermediate portion 18a, a front portion or handle 18b and a rearportion 18c. The front and rear portions 18b and 18c are turned atsubstantially right angles to the straight elongated intermediateportion 18a and inhibit longitudinal sliding movement of the strip. Therear portion 180, in particular, restrains unintentional extraction ofthe strip by providing limited resistance to outward sliding movement.

The strip extends along rod and is at least as long as the rod,especially if foldable end portions 18b and 18c are included. The upperand lower longitudinal edges of intermediate portion 18a are straightand parallel. The vertical dimensions of the strips intermediate portion18a substantially exceed distance D between the lower free end of hookportion 14 and the body portion 13 of the hanger directly therebelow, asillustrated most clearly in FIG. 2. However, the vertical dimensions ofthe strip 18 are less than the maximum vertical dimension of the space19 defined between the hook and body portions of the hanger.

Since the strip 18 is formed of flexible material, it is capable ofbeing deformed as shown in FIG. 3 when a lateral force represented byarrow 20 is exerted against it. To insert the strip the end portions 18band 180 are first preferably brought into longitudinal alignment withintermediate portion 18a and the lower edge portion of the strip isslipped into the recesses 17 of a plurality of hangers supported inparallel relation upon rod 10. The upper portion of the strip is thenpushed inwardly in the direction represented by arrow 20, causing thedeformation of the strip represented somewhat schematically in FIG. 3.Depending on the flexibility of the material from which the hanger 12 isformed, such deformation of the strip may be accompanied by limitedupward flexing of hook portion 14 (FIG. 3). After the upper edge of thestrip is disposed within the arch of hook portion 14, it snaps into theposition illustrated in PK]. 2 and effectively restrains the hanger frombeing lifted free from the support rod 10. As indicated in FIG. 2, theupper edge portion of strip 18 is preferably wedged between thedepending leg 14c of the hook so that the compressive forces exertedupon the strip, indicated by the cross sectional deformation shown inFIG. 2, tend to urge the hanger downwardly and maintain it securely uponsupport rod 10.

Removal of the strip is achieved simply by gripping the handle or frontportion 18b between the fingers and pulling the strip longitudinallyalong rod 10. The handle portion 18b is preferably provided withsuitable indicia 21, such as the legend PULL TO REMOVE, shown in FIG. 1.After the strip has been longitudinally extracted, each of the hangers12 is free to be lifted from rod 10.

It is believed apparent from the foregoing that the cooperativerelationship between strip 18, hangers l2, and rod 10 permits a rack tobe pre-loaded with hanger-equipped articles well in advance of ultimateuse and that because of such cooperation the hangers will be locked inplace upon their support rods during shipment and until such time as thelocking strips 18 are removed. Since such strips are formed of paper,cardboard. or some other inexpensive material. they may be discarded bythe retailer or user afterthey have been manually removed in the mannerdescribed.

While in the foregoing l have disclosed an embodiment of the inventionin considerable detail for purposes of illustration, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that many of these details may bevaried without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In combination with a horizontal support rod and a plurality ofarticle-supporting hangers suspended in parallel therefrom, each of saidhangers having a hook portion hooked over said rod and having a bodyportion directly therebelow defining a space therebetween, said hookportion having a free end disposed above said body portion a verticaldistance less than the maximum vertical dimension of said space, whereinthe improvement comprises an elongated locking strip of flexiblematerial extending through the spaces beneath the hook portions of allof said hangers, said strip having an upper longitudinal edge engagingthe underside of said hook portion and a lower longitudinal edgeengaging said body portion of said hanger, whereby, said strip restrainseach of said hangers from being unhooked from said support rod, saidstrip slidably engaging said hook and body portions and being removableby longitudinally sliding said strip out from beneath the hook portionof all of said hangers, the distance between the upper and lowerlongitudinal edges of said strip exceeding the vertical distance betweenthe free end of said hook portion and said body portion, said bodyportion of said hanger being provided with an upwardly facing recess,and said lower longitudinal edge of said strip being received withinsaid recess and being restrained thereby against lateral movement.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which said strip is capable of beingflexed when viewed in vertical section to reduce the distance betweenthe upper and lower edges thereof and thereby permit said strip to beinserted laterally into the spaces beneath the hook portions of therespective hangers.

3. The structure of claim 2 in which the upper and lower edges of saidstrip are parallel.

4. The structure of claim 2 in which said flexible strip is formed ofcardboard.

5. The structure ofclaim 2 in which said flexible strip is formed ofresilient plastic.

6. The structure of claim 2 in which said strip is at least as long assaid rod.

7. The structure of claim 6 in which said strip is provided with ahandle portion at one end thereof for the manual gripping of said stripfor slidably extracting the same from said hangers.

8. The structure of claim 7 in which said handle portion comprises anend portion of said strip bent at a generally right angle with respectto the remainder of said strip.

9. The structure of claim 8 in which said strip has its opposite endportion bent at generally right angles to inhibit unintentionallongitudinal sliding movement and removal of said strip.

10. in combination with a horizontal support rod and a plurality ofarticle-supporting hangers suspended in parallel therefrom, each of saidhangers having an arched hook portion extending over said rod and havinga body portion spaced directly therebelow, said hook portion having afree end disposed above said body portion a vertical distance less thanthe maximum vertical dimension of the space beneath the arch of saidhook, wherein the improvement comprises an elongated locking strip offlexible material extending through the spaces beneath the hook portionsof all of said'hangers, said strip having an upper longitudinal edgeengaging said hook portion and bearing against a lower surface portionof said rod facing generally in the direction of the free end of saidhook, said strip also having a lower longitudinal edge engaging saidbody portion of said hanger, whereby, said strip is interposed betweensaid rod and the body of each hanger and restrains said hangers frombeing lifted and unhooked from said support rod, said strip slidablyengaging said hook and body portions and being removable bylongitudinally sliding said strip out from beneath the hook portions ofall of said hangers, said body portion of each of said hangers beingprovided with an upwardly facing recess, said lower longitudinal edge ofsaid strip being received within said recess and being restrainedthereby against lateral movement.

11. The structure of claim in which the surfaces engaged by the upperand lower edges of said strip are spaced closer together than the widthof said strip, whereby, said strip is normally in a state of transversedeformation when its upper edge engages said rod and its lower edgeengages the body portions of said hangers.

12. The structure of claim 11 in which the distance between the upperand lower longitudinal edges of said strip exceed the vertical distancebetween the free end of said hook portion and said body portion.

13. The structure of claim 10 in which the upper and lower edges of saidstrip are parallel 14. The structure of claim 10 in which said strip isprovided with a handle portion at one end thereof for the manualgripping of said strip for slidably extracting the same from saidhangers.

15. The structure of claim 14 in which said handle portion comprises anintegral terminal portion of said strip bent at a generally right anglerelative to the remainder of said strip 16. The structure of claim 10which comprises integral terminal portions of said strip bent at rightangles relative to the remainder of said strip.

1. In combination with a horizontal support rod and a plurality ofarticle-supporting hangers suspended in parallel therefrom, each of saidhangers having a hook portion hooked over said rod and having a bodyportion directly therebelow defining a space therebetween, said hookportion having a free end disposed above said body portion a verticaldistance less than the maximum vertical dimension of said space, whereinthe Improvement comprises an elongated locking strip of flexiblematerial extending through the spaces beneath the hook portions of allof said hangers, said strip having an upper longitudinal edge engagingthe underside of said hook portion and a lower longitudinal edgeengaging said body portion of said hanger, whereby, said strip restrainseach of said hangers from being unhooked from said support rod, saidstrip slidably engaging said hook and body portions and being removableby longitudinally sliding said strip out from beneath the hook portionof all of said hangers, the distance between the upper and lowerlongitudinal edges of said strip exceeding the vertical distance betweenthe free end of said hook portion and said body portion, said bodyportion of said hanger being provided with an upwardly facing recess,and said lower longitudinal edge of said strip being received withinsaid recess and being restrained thereby against lateral movement. 2.The structure of claim 1 in which said strip is capable of being flexedwhen viewed in vertical section to reduce the distance between the upperand lower edges thereof and thereby permit said strip to be insertedlaterally into the spaces beneath the hook portions of the respectivehangers.
 3. The structure of claim 2 in which the upper and lower edgesof said strip are parallel.
 4. The structure of claim 2 in which saidflexible strip is formed of cardboard.
 5. The structure of claim 2 inwhich said flexible strip is formed of resilient plastic.
 6. Thestructure of claim 2 in which said strip is at least as long as saidrod.
 7. The structure of claim 6 in which said strip is provided with ahandle portion at one end thereof for the manual gripping of said stripfor slidably extracting the same from said hangers.
 8. The structure ofclaim 7 in which said handle portion comprises an end portion of saidstrip bent at a generally right angle with respect to the remainder ofsaid strip.
 9. The structure of claim 8 in which said strip has itsopposite end portion bent at generally right angles to inhibitunintentional longitudinal sliding movement and removal of said strip.10. In combination with a horizontal support rod and a plurality ofarticle-supporting hangers suspended in parallel therefrom, each of saidhangers having an arched hook portion extending over said rod and havinga body portion spaced directly therebelow, said hook portion having afree end disposed above said body portion a vertical distance less thanthe maximum vertical dimension of the space beneath the arch of saidhook, wherein the improvement comprises an elongated locking strip offlexible material extending through the spaces beneath the hook portionsof all of said hangers, said strip having an upper longitudinal edgeengaging said hook portion and bearing against a lower surface portionof said rod facing generally in the direction of the free end of saidhook, said strip also having a lower longitudinal edge engaging saidbody portion of said hanger, whereby, said strip is interposed betweensaid rod and the body of each hanger and restrains said hangers frombeing lifted and unhooked from said support rod, said strip slidablyengaging said hook and body portions and being removable bylongitudinally sliding said strip out from beneath the hook portions ofall of said hangers, said body portion of each of said hangers beingprovided with an upwardly facing recess, said lower longitudinal edge ofsaid strip being received within said recess and being restrainedthereby against lateral movement.
 11. The structure of claim 10 in whichthe surfaces engaged by the upper and lower edges of said strip arespaced closer together than the width of said strip, whereby, said stripis normally in a state of transverse deformation when its upper edgeengages said rod and its lower edge engages the body portions of saidhangers.
 12. The structure of claim 11 in which the distance between theupper and lower longitudinal edGes of said strip exceed the verticaldistance between the free end of said hook portion and said bodyportion.
 13. The structure of claim 10 in which the upper and loweredges of said strip are parallel.
 14. The structure of claim 10 in whichsaid strip is provided with a handle portion at one end thereof for themanual gripping of said strip for slidably extracting the same from saidhangers.
 15. The structure of claim 14 in which said handle portioncomprises an integral terminal portion of said strip bent at a generallyright angle relative to the remainder of said strip.
 16. The structureof claim 10 which comprises integral terminal portions of said stripbent at right angles relative to the remainder of said strip.